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After Isaac Watts (1674-1748) finished college and returned home to Southampton, he wrote many of his now-immortalized hymns for the Above Bar Congregational Church. Then, at age 22, he left home for London to become a tutor. (more↠)

Neither the date nor the circumstances of Pachebel's Canon in D are known (suggested dates range from 1680 to 1706), and the oldest surviving manuscript copy of the piece dates from the 19th century. The Canon, like Pachelbel's other works, although popular during his lifetime, soon went out of style, and remained in obscurity for centuries. Originally scored for three violins and cello, a 1968 arrangement and recording of it by the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra became unexpectedly popular over the next decade, and in the 1970s the piece began to be recorded by many ensembles; by the early 1980s its presence as background music was inescapable. From the 1970s to the early 2000s, elements of the piece, especially its chord progression, were used in a variety of pop music songs. (more↠)

Amidst all the loud hallelujahs and trumpets that rightfully characterize Easter, there's a little detail of the story that recaptures my imagination again and again, namely: The Resurrected Christ still has the holes in His hands and feet. (more↠)